


Calefaction

by rin0rourke



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Phantom Thief AU, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-06 13:59:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13412775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rin0rourke/pseuds/rin0rourke
Summary: When peices to a powerful ancient weapon are being stolen, E. Aster Bunnymund, legendary savior of the Pooka and former Guardian, must return to Earth to help his friends protect the last fragments of the relic, and retrieve the weapon before it can be put to devistating use.





	1. Gelid

When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat. - Ronald Reagan

*~*

It was child's play.

Of course it had been Santa’s Workshop,so it was only natural that he had enjoyed the night's activities immensely. Just as Kozmotis had promised he would.

The wards had been a bit of a challenge, like a puzzle, and the yeti had been difficult, and the little gnome things! Oh they had been so cute with their tiny hats for clothes and their bells and their little sock covered feet. He had barely resisted making off with a sackful (HA!) of them.

But it was the big guy, Mr HoHoHo himself that had truly made the night worthwhile.

He cackled on the rooftop of his pitstop, somewhere in Russia if the nonsensical language on the street signs told him anything. It wasn't as far from the North Pole as he would like, but at this point he wouldn't mind a little surprise attack if his victims had chased him this far.

Smirking at the thought of another go around he almost considered staying put to wait for them, but the magical pull from the item in his pocket reminded him of his task, and the very strict timeline he must follow.

Plenty of time for play later. He had a job to do.

*~*

“E.A.Bunnymund?”

Aster looked up from his research and squinted through his glasses at the very small pooka in his doorway, a pooka still in his military uniform who stood very straight and formal and looked to be wishing he were anywhere else.

Aster expected no less, among the Brotherhood he was known to be… eccentric. His discovery and cultivation of the berserker inducing chemicals within the cacao bean had heralded in a new age of war among his kind that had turned the tide against the fearlings, but his experimentations before perfecting the serum had left him… addled, at least among his fellow Pooka.

Hero or no, there was little a Pooka liked less than an anomaly.

“Yes?” he asked, irritated that his research had been disrupted.

The clear sign of emotion on his face and in his voice was alien to his guest, who had never seen a Pooka REVEAL irritation in any way but a bristle of fur and a particular cock of the ears.

It was rumored Bunnymund would even fight with his FISTS, like some lower life form.

“You have an assignment.” The visitor, a pale cream pooka said tersely. Obviously finding the  act of SPEAKING to a fellow Pooka instead of communicating mentally distasteful.

But Bunnymund had long been unable to mindmeld with his brethren, since landing on Earth his biochemical structure had been altered, just as his body now remained permanently between his original shape and his berserker transformation his mind suffered the same effects.

His people could no longer reach him telepathically.

“There's been an incident.” the only thing Pooka disliked more than an anomaly was an incident, and since they were sending him he had little doubt where he was going. “You are to report to Earth immediately, the information has been sent to your ship.”

*~*

Jack hadn’t wasted much time between the North Pole and Punjam Hy Loo, there hadn’t been any to waste. He had made it barely over the Himalayas before the washed out yellow dawn fractured into a prism of variegated colors. It had been almost too much to not float there, tens of thousands of feet in the air and watch the tawny heavens explode into light.

There wouldn’t have been another chance if he had, Toothiana never left her palace except in emergencies, and he most definitely had not wanted to face her when he snuck inside.

North and the yeti were on a completely different level than him in battle, usually quite literally since the main workshop of the pole was a series of circular floors stacked on top of each other around the open air of the globe. Flying from platform to platform and avoiding the bumbling yeti confined to elevators and stairs had been nothing short of a delight. Getting into a midair battle with a sword master and her army of formidable, if adorable, fairies would not have been as much fun.

He could only count himself lucky the little tooth fairies already liked him, otherwise his task would have been far more complicated. There were no air vents to sneak into in the Tooth Palace, and a million eyes.

The fact that he had found and collected his prize before their Queen sensed him intruding was a miracle, as it was he barely avoided a confrontation with all three Guardians thanks to North’s advanced warning of their arrival.. How in the world did Santa sneak through Christmas night after Christmas night with nary but a clatter on the roof when his mode of transportation involved a booming vacuum of light and sound?

He slipped into the cool darkness of the night sky over the Pacific, rushing desperately to stay ahead of the approaching dawn and his equally golden pursuer. After all, it wouldn’t take long for them to realize exactly what he had taken and he still had one last hideout to raid while they were scrambling.

Now, if he were a giant floating sand castle, where would he be…?

*~*

Aster had to admit, this was not what he had in mind when they had sent him to handle an “incident”. 

Around him the Guardians were in disarray. The pole had never been anything more than controlled chaos, but this was pandemonium on another level, a war level. No one had even noticed his arrival.

So much for a welcome party. 

Tooth was looking particularly harried, her knife sharp wings whirring behind her as she instructed her tiny clones, voice too fast for him to follow. North was front and center amid an army of Yeti, yelling something in a mix of Yettish and Russian that was almost as unintelligible as Tooth.

Only Sandy remained calm, a serene floating center to the storm of preparations around them. He hovered in front of the Globe, eyes uncharacteristically alert upon the glittering lights.

“Want t’fill a bloke in there mate?’ Bunnymund asked, startling the DreamWeaver out of his thoughts. Sandy immediately clung to him, wrapping him up in golden sand and hugging him close. “Yeah yeah, missed ye too ye hoon, now what’s all this about a break in? The briefing I got was… less than informative.” An understatement. Pooka were not used to giving important information to each other via digital or magical media, the information he had received had been sorely lacking not by any intention, but simply because the Pookan thought process had not transferred well to the ship. All he knew was that the indicator he had created to monitor the emergency signal for his fellow Guardians had gone off, and none of his brethren had been eager to visit the last battlefield of the Fearling War.

“BUNNY!” North’s voice reverberated through the workshop like the voice of a God, in two heavy strides up the platform he was enveloped in yet another hug. “Look at you, bunny man! Years do you good, you are slimming down finally!” 

“Yeah.” Bunny managed before North released him from the bone crushing embrace. “Its tak’n time, but my experiments are wearing off. Soon I may start getting soft round the middle again.” He grinned and pat his gut.

“Good, belly is good for you. You!” North brandished a finger like a sword at him, “Need a meal, you are too skinny. They feed you rabbit food up there.”

“Bunny, you’re back!” Tooth zipped in, stealing him away with a spin from North who was bellowing for refreshments. “Thank goodness, have you heard?”

“Just got here.” He informed her with a careful pat along her shoulder, her wings were lethal these days. “Got the signal, haven’t yet got up to speed.”

Sandy shifted his images, recognizable symbols from years ago that made him feel instantly at home even as the subject filled him with a cold dread.

“The.. are ye sure?” 

“We’re sure.” Tooth held Bunny’s paw in her tiny delicate hands, eyes downcast in apology, “We did our best to protect the pieces of your staff you left with us, but they’re gone Bunny. All of them.”

His mind spun, “Who?”

“We don’t know exactly why he would..., I just can't imagine him doing something so terrible, I'm sure there's someone else… some reason...”

“Who?” He demanded again more firmly.

“Jack Frost.” North stepped back into their circle, palm resting on the pummel of his sabre. “He was here, at the Pole. I would know him anywhere.”

Bunny filed through his memories, turning over every spirit he could recall that knew of the device, but no Jack Frost surfaced. “I don’t know him.”

“I would think not.” North clapped a hand upon Bunny’s shoulder, “He appeared after you left, a mischievous trickster of Winter but we had assumed him harmless, likely a byproduct of my own Winter adventures I’m sure.” Christmas had softened much of what people saw in Winter, it made sense that a few less severe monsters would crop up from the lore. “A mistake, I am afraid.”

“We don’t know that!” Tooth insisted.

“You were not here when he came Toothy, I know what I saw.”

“How,” Bunny interrupted them, “could he have known about the fragments?” 

“We.. have idea...” North shared a look with the others before continuing, “He knew, exactly, where we kept the pieces, he didn’t even try to sneak by us, but it wasn’t an assault. He just..” how did you explain the way Jack Frost had outmaneuvered them? “It was like game to him.”

“Like North gets sometimes.”

The bandit king blustered. “I do not steal important dangerous devices.” He objected. 

“You’re always sneaking into my palace treasury.” Tooth accused.

“I merely test your security,” North rubbed his nose and pretended to study the globe, “ is often lacking.”

“If you’re blaming this on my fairies-!” 

“WHoa whoa there shiela,” Bunnymund got between them before the argument could escalate. “The crook stole from all o’ya, North’s not blaming, right North?” He raised his voice at the man expectantly.

“Da, I meant no offense. I apologize Tooth.”

She huffed, but seemed to regain herself. “Look, tensions are high,” Bunnymund, hell all of them had needed to be mediator in their time as friends at one point or another but he had never felt very good at it, “but just because some yabbo broke in and took the pieces don’t mean he has a bloody clue how the staff works.”

“That’s just it Bunny.” Tooth explained, “We don’t think he took them for himself.”

“We?” Bunny turned to the others, he didn’t need excellent vision to see Tooth was having a personal conflict, but North had outright said the bloke was responsible.

“Jack has always been…” North stroked his beard as he searched for a word, “a nuisance. It is not the first time he’s tried to enter Workshop, but he has always failed.”

“Some bloke tries to break in and ye let him walk out with th’mindset that he could do it again?” That did not sound like the North he knew. Those who had made themselves enemies of Father Christmas tended to avoid the pole and its Yeti army like the well guarded fortress it was.

“Jack is a child, he plays tricks but he was always harmless.”

“Or so we thought.” Tooth admitted downcast. “He also came by the palace, to play with my girls. I let him, because he stayed to the outer areas, the ponds mostly, and he was always so nice to them when they had to collect teeth in Winter. I thought…” She gestured to the others, “we all thought he was just a little boy.”

“He’s a winter spirit Tooth.”

“I know that but...” Her voice got thick, and Bunnymund was suddenly terrified she’d start to cry and four hundred years with them had still not taught him how to handle tears. Thankfully Sandy cut in, small hand on Tooth’s shoulder.

“Ye too?” Bunny asked, and the Sandman nodded.

Images came to life in the sand above his head, and Bunnymund had his first impression of Jack Frost, hardly more than a stick figure, a slip of a thing beside the rotund image of Sandy on his cloud. He understood now why they called him a child, the boy lounged back next to Sandy, pointing at the stars. 

“So ye let him close enough t’get in, still doesn’t explain how ye let some sliver of an ice spirit get away.”

“We did not LET him do anything,” North objected over Sandy’s very large depiction of an Elephant. “He is fast flier.”

“We got two of our own, in case ye hadn’t noticed.”

“Thankyou Bunny, it’s so nice to complemented and condescended to.” Tooth seethed and Sandy blew steam out of his ears. “I almost forgot what your nitpicking sounded like.”

“I mean no offense Tooth, but yer girls and ye, and Sandy, ye can circle the globe faster than I can in m’tunnels. I understand North having to drag out his deathtrap he calls a sleigh,” Bunny rolled over North’s indignant objection, “but I can’t see some sprite outpacing either of ye.”

“You’re right, he didn’t.” Tooth surprised him by agreeing. “He vanished.”

Sandy recreated his elephant, with blinking arrows pointing at it. 

“Some kind of portal magic.” North mused, “but we can’t be sure. We thought perhaps he travels through ice when he escaped Pole, but Tooth Palace has no such thing; his trail ended miles from the mountain snowcaps.”

“So he can come and go as he pleases,” Bunny rubbed his paw over his face, “Strewth what a mess.” He studied the strained faces of his friends, seeing for the first time past their anger and bickering to the pain. He could see then that what he had thought was injured pride was a hurt, a nerve scraped raw that made them quick to strike at each other, and a worry. They didn’t want to say it outright, not to him, but he didn’t need to read between any lines to see their attempts to diminish Jack’s threat. 

Jack Frost had made himself comfortable with all the remaining Guardians it seemed, people whose sense and judge of character Bunnymund trusted. Of course they would assume someone else was behind it, the betrayal must have more than stung, it was like a knife to the back. 

The last thing Bunny wanted to do was twist that knife with accusations and blame. If Jack or someone else had their eye on the device, they had to act quickly. Still an anger, hot and fierce and coiled tight as a serpent deep in his chest, woke at the hurt on their faces under all that bloated vengeance.

He wouldn’t forgive Jack for betraying their trust.

“Alright, buck up.” Bunny clapped his hands, “she’ll be right. The mongrel had a lend on ye, but we can still turn this around. There should be one piece left, the whole bloody thing’s just a scrap heap without the First Light. So what d’ye say we take this war council to the Warren?”

The Guardian’s faces relaxed at his encouragement, turning eager. Betrayal was little in the face of a good dust up, and it had been a long time since the four of them had been in one place to fight. It would be just like old times. Bunnymund didn’t doubt in the least that they would have this winter sprite backed into a corner in an instant, but first..

He grinned, tapping his foot and feeling the familiar magic jump to him like a waiting puppy, the ground under their feet giving way to the soft shadows and smooth earthen walls of his tunnel. North had time for a single oath before they were all sliding down the shoot into his underground kingdom.

Bunnymund ran alongside them, his muscles bunching and stretching in an old familiar way beneath the restrictive clothing. It felt good, more than good, he had never forgotten how much he had loved to run and dig and create here on Earth and his body hadn’t either, though he could blame that on the effects of his chocolate experiments.

He just didn’t get to do this kind of thing with the Brotherhood. They were… restrictive, just like the robes he had constantly shredded through in his time on Earth. Their bodies were but vehicles for their brilliant minds and their magnificent ears, useful but mundane, like the outer casings of powerful magical items. The idea of Bunnymund training his body not to be the perfect housing for his mind and a weapon for battle, but simply because he enjoyed the exercise, it would appall his fellow Pooka. They were meant for scholarly pursuits and the defense of the galaxy, not silly races or undignified tests of strength. 

If he had done this to a group of them they would have reached for their own magic two meters down and put a stop to the slide in an instant, then glowered at him and lectured him on unprofessional behavior and rude surprises. Just the thought of their severe looks and damned unruffled dignity could sour his mood.

But it was hard to dwell on that when his fellow Guardians hooted and shrieked as they careened through his tunnels. Even Tooth and Sandy, two fliers fully capable of abandoning the fall for their own self respect simply continued on without a care, laughing all the way.

They all arrived in one big pile of giggling limbs at the base of the tunnel, the soft grass and spongy moss a perfect medium for catching ill prepared visitors. Bunny bounded off the side wall and over them, landing with grace at the head. 

“We must go again.” North cackled. “I left my cookies on that last turn and I must retrieve them.” Sandy waved a big thumbs up figure the size of North’s fat head.

“If you lost your cookies anywhere in that tunnel I have to request a thorough cleaning before I reride.”

“Nah, the ground would’ve eaten it already, no worries.” Bunny assured her.

Tooth blanched and even North looked vaguely disgusted before bursting out laughing and flopping onto his back again. “I worried you would lose your sense of humor in space Bunny.” He grinned at his old friend from upside down. “I am glad I was wrong.”

“Need something t’lose it mate.” 

“You have always been funny. Although,” North’s eyes went wicked, “not always intentionally.”

“Alright ye bloody galah, shut yer gob and let’s get to work. We got a lot to prepare if we plan on entertaining our guest.” He turned around, hands on his hips and surveyed the changes to the Warren. It had been built with self sustainability in mind, knowing he could at any point be reassigned away from Earth after the war. 

That had been a bittersweet victory.

“Do you think Jack will show?” Tooth asked, hovering beside him with her buzz of wings. He’d have to get used to that, Tooth had changed the most of them all and he had never had the chance to become accustomed to it. 

“That’s the question.” He hoped not, because the fact that someone, anyone outside of the Guardians even knew of the device was one thing, if Jack knew about the Warren as well? Meant there were far more sinister forces at work. “C’mon. Let’s get this done. Never know when the yabbo will make his appearance and I wanna be prepared.”


	2. Frigid

 

Jack dodged through the trees easily, even at the speed he was going he could fly through this forest with ease. Homefield advantage, he could fly through this forest with his eyes closed, he grinned as his very pretty pursuers were not so lucky.

Maybe he was cheating a little, he had spent near three hundred years memorizing the trees in this area, also they tended to bend and move to his defense, but really it was hardly enough to balance the game board. Just look at what he was up against! Sentient glowing sand? Shaped like bloodhounds? Unfa~ir.

But he gave the Sandman points for following him the longest, he had known Sandy would be the most fun, and had saved him for last in anticipation of having the very best of times. 

As he rebounded off a hemlock and through the tangled mess of multiple trunks of a pitch pine he chortled, completely satisfied with the course of events and giddy from his self assurance. He had bested the Guardians. He had! Him! Jack Frost! Had bested the greatest warriors on Earth!

It was enough to swell anyone’s head.

Kozmotis had known he would of course, had maintained complete confidence in him even with his track record of breaking into the North Pole. It was still a little embarrassing, having someone encourage you. He’d never had that before, and was eager to prove himself.

Koz had also been the only one in three hundred years to ever bother to explain things to him, like barriers and wards. He had been more than proud when Jack had taken to the strange patterns and symbols of the magical runes they had been studying. How easily he could slip past even the most powerful of magical defenses once he knew the basics.

He felt a little bad though, about tricking the Guardians, they had always been nice to him. Well, Sandy and the little baby tooth fairies had always been nice to him, he had never actually met Santa and the ToothFairy, they hadn’t gone out of their way to be mean to him even when they easily could have, but he was beginning to understand the difference between being nice and not being cruel. Koz was explaining that to him as well.

Still,whatever his conflict about stealing from them, wasn’t it their fault? How could they, how could anyone keep something so important a secret? Jack eased down onto the branch of a pine tree and studied his prize, the strange little nesting doll all painted to look just like the Sandman, and took the moment to catch his breath and gain his bearings. Koz had warned him not to open the dolls, that the magic inside was more dangerous than any boobytrap without the proper containment.

Jack was curious, not stupid, he had seen Indiana Jones and he liked his face the way it was thankyou.

He heard the subtle whisper of the hounds, more ominous than any growls. At least growls were a noticeable warning, the sound of shifting sand only came to him when the dogs were reforming somewhere close to by.

Damn it, wasn’t there some way to disable these things? He knew if he got close enough to put his hands on them his ice froze them for a while, but it was still early autumn and even in the cool forest they melted fast, he didn’t want to risk wasting the energy if he couldn’t get to safety before they were free. His powers were also unpredictable without direct contact, and the last thing he wanted was to start yet another unseasonable snowstorm by flinging around wild magic.

He’d have more than the Guardians coming for his head if he did that.

He also couldn’t just lead the sandhounds to the entrance of Koz’s home, that would just be rude, but he had been flying around the forest for over an hour. If this didn’t let up, he was going to have to resort to drastic measures.

Koz had been helping his target practice after all, maybe this time he wouldn’t dump eight inches of frozen fury on his hometown.

Just as he lunged into the air he heard a sharp crack, not unlike the whip in Indiana Jones, and looked back to see the sandhound that had pounced on his former location explode into a firework of black glitter.

Glancing around eagerly he spied Kozmotis leaning elegantly against a particularly twisted looking pitch pine, a long black cord held limp in his hand.

“Koz!” Jack grinned, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Jack.” Kozmotis greeted coolly, “I see you brought me gifts.” He side eyed the circling golden dogs who snarled at him.

“Brought you more.” Jack tossed the nesting doll casually from hand to hand.

Koz’s eyes glowed a pleased yellow at the sight. “Well, and here I thought your tardiness had meant failure.”

“Who me? Never. I just like to shake things up a bit. Plus, who can ignore playing with puppies?” Jack tucked his hands behind his back and made kissy noises at the bloodhounds, but their attention was solely on Koz. “Who's a good doggie? Yes you are!”

“Good work Jack, now why don’t you run along inside and relax,” Koz smiled viciously at the dogs, “and leave the mutts to me.”

Jack felt less confidence, “Uhh, you sure? They’ve kinda been giving me the literal run around.”

“Oh Jack, I assure you they are no problem.” Koz held out his hand and the confetti of black that had once been a sandhound coalesced into another long black whip. “Believe me.”

*~*

This was a little harder than Bunnymund figured it would be.

North had called in a few yeti to aid them and Tooth had several fairies out in the fields as well when they weren’t being snagged for collecting, but they had only managed to clear a third of the space he needed for the trap.

He had known that leaving the warren to go wild would have consequences, he had just never thought he’d have to deal with those consequences.

“North, those are catnip, not nettle, have ye ever seen a plant in yer life?” He scolded as North gingerly thinned the kitchen garden. Everything in it was thin and tall and scraggly, too much self seeding had crowded the beds so that dwarfism ran rampant, and near everything was bolting into useless blooms and seed heavy towers. Without someone to pinch the flowers back the plants had gone and thrown an orgy like a crowd of unsupervised university kids.

He needed the entrance to his home to look at least somewhat welcoming if he wanted the little thief to stop by for tea.

He grinned as he culled the garden mercilessly, looking forward to interrogating the winter spirit. It had been a while since he could flex his muscles at something that wasn’t a slug or wandering caterpillar. Speaking of which. “How ye sheilas going with the oil?” He called to Tooth, who had her girls out with his eyedroppers smothering the grubs who had trespassed away from their butterfly garden and into his corn rows. Though his corn was less than desirable too, stunted stalks with damaged pollen towers and tattered layers of green shot up asymmetrically among the tangled carpet of pumpkin vines.

He had given up thinning them, focusing instead on lining the walkway to his front door with soft spongy moss and riotous fragrant flowers. The act of putting his hands in the dirt, of pulling magic and helping everything grow, was a soothing balm on a part of his soul he hadn’t even noticed was rubbed raw. Like how he sometimes forgot how sore his body was in the midst of battle.

“Almost done Bunny,” Tooth shouted between ordering her army about, in her hands was an ever filling pail of caterpillars plucked as they came up for air who, if they hadn’t suffocated in the oil, would be transferred to the butterfly garden.

“Head over t’the south side when yer done, the vines need t’be trained back an the yeti are clearing the trenches.”

“On our way!” She buzzed her wings and  began directing her fairies towards the trellises as they brought her their grubs.

“North, ye are culling the herd, not milking the cow. Stop being so delicate, strewth.”

“You always say I am too rough with plants.”

“Because I usually spend the greater part of the year planting ‘em. I want these tidy like.”

North harrumphed but began to pull the catnip with more vigor. The smell of crushed plants and turned soil was heavy in the air, better than any perfume, and the sound of his friends complaining and working was less annoying and more nostalgic. They had done this often back in the day, working on projects and pestering each other.

“I should be working on trap.” North muttered under his breath.

Yeah, like he would ever leave North of all people alone with a volatile magical experiment. Who knew what the daft old mage would add to the concoction? At least he could trust Sandy to follow his instructions.

“Ye are, trust me.” Bunny assured him. “The Warren’s a fair big place, and while our gift is growing in its pot we gotta make it as inviting as possible. Anybody sets foot in this place they’ll be expecting wild animals t’attack them.”

“Hah! You jumping from behind trees now Bunny?”

“I was talking about ye ya mammoth.” Bunny punched him in the shoulder. “Ye planning on getting any fatter or has Tooth started hiding the cookies these days?”

“Shows what you know, this” Santa pat his belly, “is for cookies. These,” he smacked his bicep with his palm, he had shucked off his coat and rolled up his sleeves so his tattoos were visible. “are for swords.”

“Hey, whatever ye humans are calling it these days. Fat is fat.” He got a big bush of catnip upside the head for that, chunks of dirt still attached to the roots.

“I’ll show you the strength of Father Christmas!” North laughed as he used the distraction to grapple with Bunny, putting the Pooka in a headlock. However that left Bunny’s ears free to do as they like, and even as out of practice as he was he still knew how to throw a decent ear punch.

“Boys, we’re on a timetable remember?” Tooth scolded them, flying over with her hands on her hips. “Catch up after we catch Jack.”

“Spoil sport.” Bunny accused her, and North aimed a clod of dirt right at her. She dodged, but it knocked one of her fairies out of the air. The poor thing went head first into the foxglove.

“Watch it!” Tooth snapped, flying over to search for her little clone. “Where’d she go, we have work.”

“You are one who dodged.” North accused with mock pout.

“Shhh.” Bunny held up a hand, face suddenly serious and ears wheeling, they both looked at him, startled. “Hear that?” His nose flared in spasmodic interest, searching for the ripple in the stagnant magic of the warren.

The crowd silenced, everyone holding their breath as they listened, straining their ears for something they could not possibly sense, not like he could. The warren was not just his haven, his home after all that had been lost to him was grieved, it was an extension of his very self. He could feel the alien shift of air as if it had been breathed across his face, his whiskers trembled and his ears went still. Slowly he turned towards the intrusion, willing himself to see through rock and tree what his ears had already confirmed.

The faint sound of grinding stone.

“Someone’s here. Sandy!” He whisper shouted. The Sandman appeared from out of his home, thumbs high in the air. The final piece was safe, and the trap set. “Everyone to yer post.”

*~*

Kozmotis entered the cavern as elegant and unruffled as ever, and Jack breathed easier seeing him there. At his back were two large shadows, hardly unusual except that these had very distinctive glowing eyes.

“New pets?” Jack asked, floating down from the ledge of one of the many staircases.

“Thank’s to you, yes.” Koz smiled at him, and offered his hand.

“Ah, yes! Here.” Jack pulled the last nesting doll out of his hoodie pocket. “You were right, after I dropped off Tooth’s and headed out to the Sandman’s castle the Guardian’s weren’t far behind. It was some Cave of Wonders shit.” He tossed it to Koz, who held it up to study the design in the dim light of his home. “Touch no~thing but the lamp.” He drawled out ominously, wiggling his fingers like and hunching his shoulders like a bent old villain.

Koz looked at him in fond amusement, “Would that make me the Djinni?” he asked, “Or Jafar?”

“HA!” Jack cackled. “If you’re Jafar then I’m the parrot!”

“Would the reverse then make you the monkey or the doormat?”

Jack huffed in bloated insult. “Excu~se you, I am a CARPET.” He crossed his legs and floated upside down blowing a raspberry. “ A flying carpet.”

“My mistake.” Koz drolled with eyebrows arched at Jack’s childish antics. “If you’re done with the prerequisite witticisms perhaps we can continue on? We are, after all, one piece away from completing the device.”

“I know!” Jack did a backflip onto the sideways staircase with a whoop. “Just think, soon both of us will be seen! No more being walked through!”

“Yes.” Koz smiled at him. “We’ll be out of the shadows soon. Now come,” he gave Jack’s hair an affectionate ruffle before steering him further into the darkness, “I have something to show you.”

“Yeah?” Koz’s home was a bit strange, Jack knew vaguely that it was somewhere in Italy, a city sinking into abyss. Of course a creature of shadows would be able to make it home. He had only ever been able to access it through caves until recently, when Koz turned the old miner’s shaft in the forest near his home into a portal. Jack had promptly christened it with an old wooden bedframe from one of the many dumping sites in the forest.

They'd both gotten a kick out of that.

He still couldn’t believe Koz had given him his own entrance. He tugged on the wristband where the charm rested against his pulse, no one had ever even invited him into their homes before, not kicking him out after he snuck in did not count, let alone given him a key. But they were two of a kind weren’t they? Alone, unseen, and terribly misunderstood. Koz had accepted him, ice and all, and had taken the time to explain things to him no one else had. Like the wards, and the Guardians, and how the earth was formed.

He shuddered at the sudden flash of eyes and teeth in his mind. “Jack?” he turned to see Koz watching him intently, hand on his arm to steady him. “You swayed a bit there.”

“I’m fine just.. a little light headed.” He smiled through the bitter nausea.

“You’ve been going for hours now, perhaps you should rest.” Koz’s fingers were like claws digging into his shoulder, pinpoints of pain anchoring him as he realized his muscles were trembling.

“Just.. just adrenaline.” He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll rest when we’re done. I’ll sleep for a month.”

“Jack,” Koz’s smile was slow and sly, “When we’re done you can sleep for a season.” He gently began to herd Jack along once more, “You can sleep all through spring.”

Spring. The word put a hitch in his frozen heart and he struggled to keep his feet moving. Don’t think about it, just push it away. There was nothing to be afraid of in Kozmotis’ home.

Not like with the Guardians.

When Koz had found out about his friendliness with them he had warned him, the Guardians didn’t like change, they were the magic world’s enforcers of the status quo, if they found out Jack was trying to become more substantial they may think of him as a threat. Only they, after all, could decide who was seen and who wasn’t.

Jack hadn’t wanted to believe that of them, but he couldn’t deny how they had ignored him whenever he visited, even Sandy would simply sit in silence and do his work as Jack prattled on. Jack hadn’t even known Santa and the others were basically superheroes, he’d just thought they were really interesting, and the fairies were sweet.

It had hurt to realize, but it was something he had to accept. The Guardians were not his friends. As he had come to terms with that he had started to see it, the constant danger he had been in, the many times he could have slipped up, revealed his deepest wish. He hadn’t been able to visit after that, not when anxiety tainted every moment, he had always felt nervous but never like that, never so aware of himself so … so afraid. The smallest misstep wouldn’t just lose him his potential friends, it could cost him his life.

The charm on his wrist had always been there in those times, a steady weight when his fears seemed to swallow him whole, reminding him that he had at least one friend in this world.

Once he had come to terms with that he had begun to visit Koz more, his home may have been dark and disorienting but it was safe, and he had never been too busy or distracted to entertain Jack; had always been eager to show him something new, something interesting about the world or about the past. Koz was a very old spirit, and had seen the world before even the Guardians had been formed. Or at least.. most of them.

It was during those visits Koz had let slip the most spectacular information of all.

That the Guardians had a device to make spirits seen.

It made sense didn’t it, that if they wanted to control who was believed, to regulate and enforce their so called Guardianship, then wouldn’t they have to have some way to make a spirit real to humans? He had begged Koz for information, but the man was unsure. Jack knew Koz wanted to look out for him, but he had needed to know and eventually even Koz’s caution gave way.

Koz was worried, the Guardians were dangerous, but he believed in him. He had never told Jack he didn’t think the boy could do it, and had done his best to find the places the pieces were kept, and even amended the charm to let him pass through shadows to keep him safe, to bring him quickly home. Jack had wanted to repay that faith with success.

After all, wasn’t the worst of the Guardians far away? Long gone into the depths of space…

Don't think about that.

“Through here,” Koz gestured sweepingly towards a shadowed enclave and Jack walked fearlessly into the dark, fingers caressing the smooth stone of the walls. The corridor opened into a cavernous room of dizzying stairways and ominous bird cages resembling stalactites. Within the shadow wrapped prisons Koz had corralled all of the nightmarish spirits that had refused to kneel before their king, their silent struggles occasionally swayed a cage or two, and sometimes Jack imagined he heard weeping, but Koz had gently assured him that if he had heard such things it had been a ploy, a trick by the creatures to lure his kind nature into sympathetic weakness. Jack hardened his heart when he had to pass through them, they would not be in the cages if they had not deserved it.

He told himself that, even as the whimpers and sobs stole into his dreams.

Soon though, the marble beneath his feet gave way to moist damp earth.

“What is this?” He asked, digging his nails into the dirt walls.

“I have finally found a way in.” Koz informed him, approaching from behind. Just as he had the power to devour the light he could grant sight to those he wished, and with him at Jack’s back the tunnel could be viewed. It was crudely dug with a base wide enough for them to stand side by side but the top was too narrow, egg shaped Jack realized, and at the end was a deep gray stone, a boulder, with strange oval runes carved into the surface.

“The Lair of the Easter Bunny?” Jack whispered, awed.

“The very same, sealed forever when he fled Earth four hundred years ago. But this,” Koz placed a palm on the stone and it shifted, as if it were something far lighter and more easily moved than a boulder twice their size. “This is an entry even we can use.”

Jack’s ears were ringing from the new adrenaline that spiked through his system. “The last piece Koz.”

“I know, but,” Kozmotis placed a hand on Jack’s arm in caution, “you've only just returned, and the Guardian's are sure to have gathered to protect the last item.”

“Yeah but if I wait won't that just give them time to prepare?” Jack asked. Time to plan, to call for backup or assemble some trap, time to summon their secret weapon. “Isn't it better to hit them fast?” before his knees turned to sponges and his mind talked him out of it.

“I'd prefer you use caution.”

“Who me?” Jack laughed like he wasn’t two heartbeats away from fleeing, “I'm the picture of caution.”

“Just..” Kozmotis’ eyes were so troubled as they mapped his face, “be safe, and if it gets too much remember your key.” He touched Jack’s cheek. “Any shadow will bring you back home.” There was that word again. Home. The black band on his wrist pulsed in reminder and the fear in his heart withdrew from the warmth of affection flooding him. He had a home.

Jack schooled his face to seriousness and nodded. “I won't fail, promise.” Then turned to the dark tunnel and took a deep bracing breath before flying forward.

He didn't look back, and wouldn't have seen Koz in the shadows if he had, but the smile that cut its way across the man's face was far from kind. “I'm counting on it.” And the boulder shifted back, locking Jack inside.

Jack noticed almost immediately how the shadows softened once Kozmotis was no longer with him, without the night vision granted to him it had felt darker but unlike in the pitch black cave here his eyes could adjust.

Soon enough he was passing skylights, openings in the roof of the tunnels or along the sides that allowed distant sun to filter down. In the small slices of light life flourished, the packed earth around him was speckled by patches of moss that thrived in the sparse sunlight. He hoped that the patches of life that grew thicker and thicker meant he was getting close. Flowers, grasses, even the stray tree seedlings were finding their way in among the moss.

The exit did not appear gradually, instead the tunnel dipped into such a steep downward angle Jack worried he was reaching a dead end until he was already traveling down the incline and being spat out into open space.

The sudden change of scenery left him dizzy and off balance. He had expected the lair of the Easter Bunny to be a cavern much like Kozmotis’, more earthy maybe, more like a rabbit’s warren than a bat cave but still a den beneath the ground. This was something out of a dream.

How could so many trees thrive underground?

The wild forest around him didn’t seem the least bit concerned with his disbelief, continuing to exist even as he flew up high above them to study the rock ceiling. There was too much light for it to be all cave, but he still followed the outer walls towards the top where the sunlight hurt his eyes. Even blinded by the glow his fingers found only stone. Amazing.

He let himself float down into the canopy and blink his eyes free of spots. The trees welcomed him happily, ancient hardwoods that had not had visitors in a very long time, their leaves shifted through their colors at his touch and detached from their branches to cling to him adorably.

Trees really were the best. He wished he had visited here before, he would have loved it. Without the crazy alien stuff. Such a waste. Now, where to start? Left or right? He hovered deciding, because if he followed one of the walls surely he would find a door? He didn’t like wasting time, the Guardians were sure to be on their way, it was the only place left he hadn’t hit.

Jack huffed and crossed his arms thinking. Now would be a good time for some noise to indicate someone was near, like in the movies, some coincidence that kept him from wandering this green labyrinth forever. Though, mysterious noises in the underground wilds of a primordial beast from space was… not exactly the best thing to hope for… probably.

After a few minutes of no such divine intervention, or horror movie intro, Jack gave up. Covering his eyes with one hand and extending his other out to point he did a quick spin in the air, the leaves dancing around him delighted. His momentum didn’t stop until he had drifted down onto the soft mossy earth, his bare feet squishing into the wet spongy ground. He grimaced, looking down at the mud now between his toes. Yuck. But, at least he was pointing in one of the directions he wanted. He kind of just realized he could have pointed back the way he came…

But, all’s well that ends well, onwards.

Brushing the leaves off gently he apologized for having to go and directed them back to their trees, his vision was restored and he really didn’t have any time to waste. The Guardians were no doubt somewhere there with him, they had had more than enough time to get to the piece first.

He was not looking forward to that.

He flew off to explore more thoroughly, the trees thinned to pasture broken by boulders and hills of bare rock before ending at more trees. He couldn’t tell exactly how big the cave was, but from one end he could only see the other side between the tops of trees and the haze of the glowing ceiling. The walls looked like mountains.

He hurried through the next series of caverns, looking for anything that seemed to indicate a hiding place for his prize. It wasn’t something one simply buried in the ground like a pirate treasure, such things required intricate magical defenses. Koz had told him at the beginning what to look for when searching for the items among the homes of the Guardians. Such powerful objects couldn’t help but leak magic, even if the others had never intended to house them so brilliantly the world simply shifted around them, creating a home befitting relics of the ancient past.

It had looked so silly the first time he saw it, North’s nesting doll, like a little toy copy Santa looking so fierce on a pillow of velvet within a display case of living wood. The box had roots for legs and was walking around the huge safe like some forest fairy version of the footrest from Beauty and the Beast. He hadn’t been able to stop laughing, even as he dodged the yeti trying to capture him.

So all he had to do here was look for something equally out of the ordinary, like the winged tree at Tooth’s or the giant crab with a clam shell on its back at Sandy’s. Something that didn’t make sense because so much power was being contained in such a small environment.

He passed through towering stone pillars that marked the entrance to another tunnel in the wall, shorter this time, and obviously better maintained than the one crudely carved into the far corner that he came from. Following it he continued through the pattern of wide caves full of lush greenery under roofs of bright crystal, however there was something unsettling about it…

No matter where he went there was no life, or rather no animal life. The plants were thick and crowded, bordering on smothering. He’d never been in such a forest. The trees were bountiful with branches all the way down their trunks and shoots jutting out of roots like bushes, the undergrowth was equally as overcrowded. Some type of herbivore should have stripped such low hanging brush away, should have left trails or hollows for dens. Even squirrels made highways in the canopy, but there was none of that here. It was a forest devoid of everything but plants, and to Jack it felt suffocating.

Nothing could continue healthily in a place without struggle, before long the plants would surely strangle each other. It was a slow and pitiable way to die.

Had this deranged paradise been what the fabled Easter Bunny had intended? Jack was very grateful he had never met the creature, he didn’t think they would get along.

Teeth and claws plagued his mind and he shuddered, no he knew they wouldn’t have gotten along at all.

He picked his way through a grove of trees so undisturbed that their branches had started to fuse together like netting. He wondered if they would one day become a solid mass, just one big tree like the items he sometimes found fused to trees in old forests, fences, bikes, even cars seemingly swallowed by the trunks of trees growing around them.

He just didn’t understand those utopia types, who wanted such never ending harmony? It gave him the creeps! Like the trees were going to grab him and eat him right alongside each other. He had to block out their voices as he passed, the leaves desperate for any change in this unnaturally long stillness. They reached for his cool presence the way someone in a smothering humid summer reached for a breeze.

He flew on, he felt bad but he wasn’t about to be something’s personal air conditioner. There was little difference wherever he went, though the types of plants varied everything seemed overcrowded and neglected.

Then, finally, there was change.

He almost passed it, attempting to escape quickly from the forest of too crowded cannibal trees, but the smell drew his attention. It looked like another end to the cavern, just a wall, like a wind breaker if there had been any wind. He flew to it, moss covered and carved full of those swirling oval shapes, and tried to figure out its purpose, and why it smelled like flowers…

The pros and cons of peeking over walls very clearly still applied to magical fairytale caverns of ancient aliens, obviously if he flew over it he would be exposed to whatever ambush was on the other side, but did he really have a choice?

Tick tock. Jack made up his mind, but first he flew back to the forest to beg some company. It didn’t take much convincing for the leaves to join him, they happily clung to him until he looked very much like a tree himself. He apologized as he pruned a few small branches from the evergreen to weave into a headdress, something to hide his very obvious white hair, and snuck back up the side. He could admit that he did feel pretty cool, all camouflaged like an action movie hero stuck behind enemy lines. he should have grabbed some mud from the mossy bog area he entered from, completely the costume with war paint. Missed opportunities. He’d have to lie when he described this to Koz.

The flower scent was strong, like during blooming time when the pollen was a dust storm and everything was covered in yellow. If a wildflower field was left to do what the forests and grasslands had been then he could only imagine what awaited him.

Carefully he peeked over the edge, fully expecting some kind of sniper attack.

He didn't get shot, thankfully, but he did get a shock. The garden beyond the wall was unlike anything in the rest of the warren. For one it was clean. Everything was neat and organized and taken care of, all leading up to the doorstep of a tiny welcoming cottage built into the stone edge of the cavern. He sank back down a little, squinting at the out of place maintenance amidst the overgrown wilderness. There were butterflies, actual butterflies frolicking in the tidy beds of flowers.

It was creepy, way way more creepy than the forest. In fact it was exactly because of the forest that such a place felt creepy. House made of candy creepy.

But, a thing that is out of the ordinary in an already extraordinary place was what he had been looking for after all. And this definitely fit that.

Keeping in character with his action hero costume he did a commando roll over the top of the wall and dropped to the ground, the dirt here wasn't boggy at all but moist and freshly turned, and darted into the first bed.

And okay now he felt a little ridiculous, hiding in towers of foxglove with a crown of evergreen branches as camouflage, but at least he was small enough to pull it off. The leaves giggled around him and he pouted at their delight. Why couldn’t the cottage have, like, manicured bushes or something. Big fuschia flowers were not action movie worthy hideouts. He sucked up his macho pride regardless and waited, listening, straining for any sign of his opponents. He didn't move even when a butterfly came to investigate, ignoring that this was also not action movie in any way. Rambo didn’t have to blow butterflies off his nose.

Time dragged on, he had no way to track it's passing since the roof continued to glow steadily, all he could do was count his own heartbeats, but he was sure an hour had passed among the flowers. Still no sign of the Guardians.

Had they arrived before him and moved it? He didn't think so, Koz had said that the Warren was the safest place for all of the items, that they were only separated amongst the others as a secondary precaution. If they hadn't been anxious of keeping all their magical eggs in one Easter Basket they would have stored it all here.

So Jack knew they had to be protecting the final piece somewhere, waiting for him.

There was just no way he had gotten here first.

Slowly he crept forwards, duck-walking between the foxgloves, his thighs were screaming at him but he wasn't about to stick his head above flower level. He reached the edge of the bed and shifted aside a stalk to spy on the house, it looked wa~y too cozy.

He was seriously getting Studio Gibli vibes. Nothing looked that nice except in fantasy.

Uhg, if Hansel and Gretel had encountered Gibli movie levels of desserts he would so not blame them for trusting a witch.

Focus, eye on the prize.

Taking a risk he started to inch out, but as he moved there was a shrill squeak beneath him. Startled he jolted back, studying the fallen tower of blooms under him. It was hard to see, but as he looked closely he could tell it was trembling. Actually, it was out of place that in this perfect garden bed a single bloom had bent over. In the wild the wind toppled weak stalks all the time, but here?

Jack gingerly picked it up, feeling the shaking of the flower. Was it alive? Flowers had never reacted to him like trees did, but maybe here it could...

Aw, he felt bad for it, bent over and almost stepped on. “Hold on, I'll stand you back up.” he whispered quietly, pulling a twig from his crown and stabbing it into the dirt at the base of the plant to prop it up. “There, until you're healed. Better?” he didn't expect the flower to answer but it had stopped shivering so there was that. “Thank you for taking care of me, I’ll leave you all be now.”

He quickly darted out of the foxglove and into the shade of the weeping cherry trees that flanked either side of the walkway to the steps, trailing leaves behind him. Truthfully this was a lot more pleasant than squeezing between the air shafts in the pole, but at least there he hadn’t had so much open spaces for his opponents to ambush him from.

He was sure, absolutely sure that they were in that house waiting for him. Probably had the item between the three of them and an army of yeti. If he could just get to a window, peek in, but they were probably waiting there too. Waiting waiting waiting for him to slip up trying to slip in. He had to be patient. Had to outlast them.

Outlasting everyone is how he survived this long. Noone else could sit as still as him for as long as him. When he wanted he could be as still and silent as ice. He wasn’t about to walk into a trap just because he was so close to victory. Even if the place didn’t look like something out of a cautionary picture book. Hansel and Gretel or the Three Bears, or that other one, how did it go?

“‘Come into my parlor,’ said the spider to the fly,” he whispered to the leaves cloaking him, “‘It’s the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.’” Like hell.

The cherry tree tittered around him, amused by his joke. He grinned, so it got the reference. How cute. He bet someone had read aloud under it once upon a time. Had the master of this place ever returned to visit, or had it been one of the Guardians?

There was a shift in the air that had the tree and his stolen leaves quieting, replacing the rustling laughter was a strange crunching sound that took time for Jack to recognize as heavy walking.

Footsteps like that, he’d heard it before, like huge chunks of rock being thrown on the ground. Back when they had built the homes near his lake, chucking the cinderblocks that chipped or broke while they worked. He shifted one of the branches aside and looked towards the garden beds.

Well...that was certainly out of the ordinary.

A huge walking egg, a giant stone statue of an egg with a tree trunk sticking out of it, roots wrapped around like an octopus, just marching along on two tiny legs. Jack couldn’t help it, the laugh choked out of him before he could stop it.

The egg spun around, or rather half of the egg spun around, like the top half of a plastic easter egg it turned to face him with the sound of grinding stone. He threw a hand up to cover his mouth, not to stop his laughter but his gleeful cry. It had a mouth, carved like the wide gaping maw of a tiki totem, and there between its teeth was the nesting doll!

He shot out of the tree quick as he could, fast gotta be fast. Indiana Jones movies had warned him of just such temptation traps, he had to move before his mind and imagination caught up with him and the thought of those stone teeth clamping down on his wrist made him hesitate. “Got You!” He chirped in victory as he snatched it up and rose into the air. “Haha, wow do you guys have a theme.”

“You have no idea!” Jack was knocked violently from the sky in a blur of purple and green. It was all he could do to tuck and roll, landing hard on the ground in a crouch, leaves fleeing from him in a burst of wind.

“Hey Tooth.” Jack turned to bluff a smile at her and Sandy, who was silently smacking his fist into his hand with a scowl. Huh, he’d never seen Sandy scowl before.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me Jack Frost, you are in big trouble.” Her wings and feathers flared out. Jack had always been intimidated by her, which is why he had avoided running into her when he visited the smaller tooth fairies. Someone as delicate looking and pretty as that didn’t get to where she was by not being dangerous.

“Very big.” North agreed, and Jack peeked to the left to see the man standing swords out and ready not but a few feet away. The Yeti too were now in a tight circle around him, suddenly appearing in a place with no cover as if they just popped up out of the ground.

“‘I’m sure ye must be tired from soaring up so high,’” a new voice, deep and angry rumbled behind him near the cherry tree. There was a strange fear inside him, dare he say instinctual, as he turned to face this unknown, “‘won’t ye stop and rest a while’ said the spider t’the fly.” The Easter Bunny, he had to be the Easter Bunny there was no way he could be anything else.


	3. Algid

The Easter Bunny was leaning casually against the weeping cherry, paint brush in his hand. “Ain’t that how that rhyme goes?”

“You heard that did you?” Jack tried for banter as his mind searched for a way out. They had him pretty tightly cornered, Sandy and Tooth guarding the air while the rest circled him on the ground. He wouldn’t be able to easily get past them, and certainly wouldn’t outpace them. If he could just reach a shadow… Damn that glowing roof. Eternal high noon much? “You skipped a few verses I think.”

“I’ve been gone awhile.” he shrugged, continuing to paint whatever he had in his hand. He didn’t look so threatening, like a really big rabbit, North honestly was bigger, but the hint of teeth in his grin struck a nerve inside him. Koz had been very severe in his warnings against this creature, a master of illusions, a shapeshifter who had formed the very Earth on a whim.  “Came back when I heard some idiot with a death wish had taken things that didn’t belong t’him.” He looked up and Jack was struck by just how green his eyes were as they glared at him. Toxic radioactive waste in saturday morning cartoons green. “Very important things.”

“Really? Looked like toys to me cottontail.” Jack tossed the doll between his hands, careful not to show how unsettled he truly was. “Why all this drama over some dolls?”

“If ye don’t know,” the beast shifted away from the tree and began to stalk forward, Jack absolutely did not flinch back, but it was a near thing, “ye don’t need t’know. I’m gonna ask once, nicely. Give ‘em back.”

Jack played at thinking it over, swaying side to side a moment before grinning. “Nope, I don’t think I will.” He shot into the air.

“Have it yer way.” 

He dodged Tooth first, her multitude of wings giving her greater dexterity in flight than him but even she had to be careful of her wingspan, like trying to uncoil himself from a snake, the way she would stop and reverse. Just like a dragonfly. He still stayed close though, because as soon as he was out in the open he was exposed to Sandy’s attack.

A coil of sand tried to wrap around him, he darted into Tooth’s reach so that her sharp wings cut right through it, scattering whatever form in held. They kept it in that tight space, on the ground the yeti were shouting, when he dodged down too low they tried to grab him. They had already snatched his evergreen crown. 

“Tooth watchout!” the Easter Bunny called and Jack had a moment's warning before the air around him exploded in pink smoke.

He gagged, covering his mouth after his first breath of the stuff, his lungs burned. It smelled of the garden, herbal, but it stung his eyes and nose and made his throat want to spasm in choking coughs. Something like a vine grabbed him around the middle and swung him down, too fast for him to counter, and smashed him into the ground.

Fun Fact, even soft loose garden soil hurt from a twenty foot drop. Would have been nice to know beforehand, but hey learn as you go right? Stupid stupid stupid he cursed himself as he tried to get air into his disobedient lungs, struggling against the ribbons of sand. Stupid to just assume they were in the house. Stupid to snatch up the doll at the first sign. His wristband pulsed and he knew he had to get free and get to a shadow, get back to Koz, he wasn’t going to be trapped like this. By pink smoke and dreamsand. In a flower garden. He’d never live it down.

Oh he was SO lying to Koz about this whole thing. Maybe a bamboo forest, crouching frost sprite hidden egg doll.

That.. did not sound as good as he meant it to, even in his head. 

“Give it up Jack,” North hauled him up, spitting and kicking, by the bindings, “You have lost. Return our Matryoshka dolls.” 

“The what?” Jack went dead weight and studied North through narrow eyes, considering. “Oh, is that what they’re called? Kinda long.” Also did not fit in his mission title. Maybe he needed less Stan Lee and more Indiana Jones. Jack Frost and the Cave of the Giant Alien Rabbit.

“Enough games.” North smooshed him down into a sitting position on the ground and crossed his arms. “Why did you steal them?”

“Hello? Dolls in weird magic walking cases, how could I not?” 

“North.” Bunny elbowed him when the man’s face got that persed stoic look that meant he was trying not to be amused. Didn’t take a genius to know the old bandit could sympathize. “Alright ye gallah, spill.” Bunny crouched down to almost eye level and Jack straightened, crossing his legs for balance. On his wrist the black band pulsed in alarm. “How’d ye know about the Warren?”

Jack blinked, “The what?” He repeated innocently.

“The Warren, all this.” Bunny indicated with a twist of his wrist the entirety of the caves around them. “How’d ye get in?”

“Fell down a rabbit hole.” Jack shrugged.

Bunny grabbed a fistful of Jack’s sweatshirt and snarled. “I don’t think so.”

“What? I did.” Jack insisted, turning his face away from the very prominent flat teeth. He’d been bitten by a rabbit before, it hurt and it had been a lot smaller, and didn’t have a blood and bone hatred for winter. “I like to explore caves, and I ended up here. I was hiding from the guard dogs Sandman sicced on me.” Jack stuck his tongue out at Sandy, who didn’t lighten up at all. “They were mean puppies.”

“You’re not going to talk your way out of this Jack.” Tooth informed him regally, buzzing close. “I trusted you, my girls adored you, and you betrayed us.”

“I wouldn’t really call it that…” Jack hunched his shoulders, looking for the first time chastised. He couldn’t help what he was, and wasn’t it their fault for keeping it hidden? He just.. Just wanted to be seen. Admitting that though would be a death sentence wouldn’t it? 

“What would you call it then mate?”

Jack continued to glare at the ground, not speaking. No matter what they said, or how they tried to turn this on him, it was not his fault. He wasn’t the bad guy here. They had even dragged their damned godcreature from whatever space closet they were keeping him in, like the thing wouldn’t kill Jack for fun. They were the ones hoarding all the believers to themselves, but he was going to change that.

If he didn’t get eaten alive.

“Suit yerself. Sandy.” Bunny nodded to the Sandman, who lifted Jack up by his bindings and started floating him towards the house. 

“Whoa whoah, where are we going?” Jack kicked his feet out at the empty air, unable to fight the fear anymore.

“Ye ain’t going nowhere for awhile, so ye can be as stubborn as ye want. We got time.”

“What are you going to do?” Jack demanded, but his control was slipping. he could feel it in the way his heart kicked against his chest. His wristband was pulsing so fast it almost felt like it was moving, wriggling like a thrashing snake. Danger, it semed to be saying, danger danger danger. If he could just get free he could escape, he couldn't let them take him somewhere else, somewhere no one knew to look for him.

“No need to worry Jack, we just have questions.” North thumped him on his back harder than his friendly tone implied.

The door to the house opened and Jack’s anxiety spiked. These were not his friends, these were not people he had known or trusted, people who would excuse his childish pranks, they were great and powerful enforcers whose attention he had avoided only because he had been too harmless to bother with. Not anymore. He couldn’t let them take him, wouldn’t couldn’t shouldn’t. He would never come back out. He’d disappear forever, unknown, unwanted. He’d never ever know his purpose. 

Koz, poor Kozmotis wouldn't even know what happened.

“No.” Jack struggled, “No, Let me go!”

“Not happening.” Bunny moved on ahead to set up the wards. “Give it up.”

“No,” Jack’s heart beat inside his head, smothering his thoughts, the sand tightened around him as he struggled, tightened tightened tightened, he couldn’t breath. He tried, he gulped at the air through his raw throat but he couldn’t breath. Were they just going to kill him like this?

Strangled by sand? “No.” 

He was cold. He was so cold, he couldn’t feel his fingers. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t escape, no matter how hard he struggled he couldn’t get away, trapped under the water. He was going to die here, drown here.

“Sandy, what’s wrong?” Bunny jumped to catch Jack as he fell, dropped suddenly by the sand. He pinned the tense, unyielding sprite the the ground, “He’s not inside yet, he’ll escape.” The Sandman was staring at his hands, trying to move his stiff fingers. “Sandy?”

“Bunny,” North kneeled beside him, prodding at the lumps of sand around them with his sword. “Its frozen.”

“That’s not possible, nothing can freeze dream sand.”

“And yet…”

Bunnymund flexes his grip on Jack, making sure he can’t struggle away as he turns him, “What did you do to Sandy?” Jack doesn’t answer, just breathes in short and shallow, Bunny finally wrestles him face up to look him in the eye, which isn’t hard considering how huge they were. Pupils blown so wide they edged out the glacier blue, his blueberries and cream complexion had gone to clammy wax. “Hey!”  He shakes the sprite, feeling a bit of unease himself, but Jack is stiff and silent as ice.

Then he sees movement, a spasmodic ripple that jerks the arm pinned under Jack’s side, jerks it so it dragged out from under them both and claws at the earthen floor. A writhing mass of pure darkness.

A fearling.

Jack Frost has a fearling wrapped around him wrist, spreading further and further up even as it tries to drag itself away. 

“Strewth,” his breath backs up in his lungs as the thing halts, paused in its scramble, then strikes out at him. He scrambles back, barely making it half a meter back before Sandy karate-chops dreamsand down in front of him like a giant golden wall, the only image Sandy could craft with his arms frozen stiff. 

Standing he watches over the barrier as Jack clutches at his arm, small pained sounds escaping him. Bunny’s distraction had loosed some of the hold the fearling had on him, and he could recognize it now, the overwhelming terror the fearlings smothered their victims in. Paralyzing them in an eternal torment. Frozen. For a brief instant, barely a fragment of a second, he thought it a kind of poetic irony. 

Then Jack cries out as the fearling lunges forwards, scrabbling across the ground, dragging Jack towards the shadowed doorway into Bunny's home, and he regains his wits. The barriers! They hadn't activated up the barriers! Not thinking he dashes past Sandy’s protection to the tune of North and Tooth’s objections. They would be right behind him, he knew, but they wouldnt be as fast. Five feet shouldn’t feel so impossibly far. He lunged, reaching. Without the barriers his home was just a home, and if the fearling reached the darkness it can escape.

With the sprite.

Jack looks back at him, at the sound of North and Tooth shouting at him, and his pained face goes slack with fear. Clear, paralyzing fear. Bunny barrels past the instinctual spear of hurt that buries in his chest, grab the brat and contain the fearling. He grabs hold of Jack’s calf, anchoring him.

Magic crackles. Lightnight, like being struck by lighting. 

He doesn't register the brilliance of light, the explosion of sound, the force that knocked him back, knocked them all back. He could only feel himself stripped.

He’d been hit by winter magic before. Like being plunged into ice water. This was different. He could FEEL the warmth as it was banished. Bleeding out of him. Until there was nothing left.

He is on the ground, blinking the spots from his eyes, and he can see Jack. Clutching at his fearling infested arm, that stark fear now replaced with something less irrational, something close to grief, a person registering what they had just done. A fear of self.

It gives the fearling the boost in strength needed to escape. 

They snap out of existence as soon as the fearling touches the shadows, stretching into a black line and slurped up like a noodle. 

Bunny lets his head fall to the ground, no energy left. A+ quality pooka. Savior of his race. Shivering with his face in the dirt.

~*~

Jack hit the smooth stone of Koz’s home hard, shattering the ice in his clothes and shooting chunks in all directions. Pain lanced through his arm from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers, still he couldn’t move. He gasped and gulped but couldn't seem to pull in any air. 

“Jack.” Kozmotis knelt beside him, reaching out.

“Don’t!” Jack warned, rolling to his side and away from the probing hand. “Don’t touch me. I might.. I ..I might..” 

“You’re having a panic attack.” Koz soothed, “Breathe deep, talk to me.”

“I can’t, I can’t think.” Jack whimpered, “I can’t breathe, my chest...” He pressed the heel of his palm to his chest, closed his fist, as if he could grip at whatever was weighted there, rip it out of him. 

“What happened?”

“I hurt them.” Jack admitted. “I don’t know wha-what happened. We were fighting and they caught me, it was fine, I was FINE, then they were taking me into the house, I was fine until the house. I didn’t want to go into the house.” 

“Were you afraid Jack?”

“I hurt the Easter Bunny.” Jack squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face into the floor, ashamed. 

“So he’s back.” Why was Koz so calm? Why wasn’t he getting away? Jack was freezing everything, frost ferns spreading out like fractures in ice, waiting to give way and swallow up everything it could. 

“I froze him.” Jack sobbed.

“Yes, I imagine he’s very annoyed. Did you retrieve the final piece Jack?” Koz reached out again, searching his hoodie pocket.

“Don’t!” Jack tried to back away but he couldn’t, his body wouldn’t move. He was paralyzed by the cold. He couldn’t even shiver. 

“Ah, here it is.” Koz held the doll up to examine. “Ridiculous things, sentimental. Hiding them in these silly dolls. I’m embarrassed to call them my enemies.” Koz stood, stepping over Jack’s prone body. “But I suppose when you’re charged with preserving the innocence of children you stray towards simple mindedness yourself.”

“Koz?” he croaked.

“Don’t try to move Jack.” Kozmotis warned him. “I’m sorry to say it’s better you stay put. The process will be painful enough without you fighting it.”

“What are you…”

“Try not to talk either.” Koz walked to the shadowed archway, removing from the darkness a long shaft. “As much as I enjoy death rattles I do like you, and it would be unsettling to hear your gasping while I work.”

“W-why?”

“Hmm? Oh, well I suppose you do deserve some explanation.” Koz crouched back down with him, the black rod revealing itself to be some sort of staff. “I need to rebuild my army Jack. The army of Pitch Black. No, don’t speak, your lost expression says it all. I knew you hadn’t heard of me, after all I was the only one to teach you.. well everything wasn’t I?” His soft laugh was too gentle for the conversation. “Fearlings Jack, my nightmare soldiers. The Guardians robbed me of my army; now they will help me rebuild it. Beginning with you.” He caressed the top of Jack’s hair, seemingly unconcerned with the ice that seized his hand. “Not a fearling prince unfortunately, your power is just too tied to your emotions; there needs to be something left you know..once the fearling around your wrist finishes hollowing you out.”

Jack’s terror spiked and Pitch leaned down, breathing deeply as if savoring the smell. “You were so alone, so desperate for companionship. Your anxieties were this delicious fragrance perfuming the air around you, it was impossible not to taste them, and you were friendly with the Guardians who let so few close. Really you were the perfect tool.” Using the staff for support he rose once more to his feet. “I really am sorry to lose you, such a pity, I did enjoy your company. In the end it’s unlikely you’ll even be a mediocre fearling.”

Pitch turned his back on Jack and walked away, saying cheerfully over his shoulder, “I’ll tell the Guardians you had no idea what I planned. Realizing that they couldn’t save you? It will just break their heart.” His laughter was sickly sweet as he melded into the shadows.

*~*

“Bunny, how are you?” 

Bunnymund looked up at North over his cup of cocoa. It was strange, being served in his own home, but then it hadn’t been his home in over 200 years now had it? “S’fine North, bit of hypothermia is all.”

“Hardly something to brush off.” 

“Maybe for ye humans, did ya forget I’m Spring?”

“Yes well, I’m just making sure Spring didn’t get any Frost damage, yes?”

“Hah hah, good one mate.” Bunny said dryly and sipped more of his cocoa, suppressing a shudder by hunching his shoulders and burrowing deeper into the blankets wrapped around him. “Still no pin on their location?” He asked when he thought his teeth wouldn’t chatter.

“No,“ and North’s face was stormy. He steepled his fingers and glared into the fire beside them. “I worry Pitch discovered it was not the real final piece.”

“He’d haveta open the doll to figure that out, and as soon as he does we’ll be on him.” Bunny set his mug down and turned fully to his friend. “We’ll get him North, before he uses the weapon.”

“It must hurt to say that.” North leaned back with a protesting creak of the egg shaped chair. “You are the one who made the device, to save your people.”

“Yeah well,” Bunny downed the rest of his chocolate, “wouldn’t be the first time. Ye know I invented the catapult t’send emergency aid over distances?”

“You…” North stared, then opened his hands, lost. “How?

“The theory was to chuck care packages in egg shaped baskets.”

“Of course it was.” North rubbed his temple. “Do you ever… think about your inventions  before you make them my friend?”

“Do ye?”

North held up a finger… then thought better of it. “We simply have different… methods.”

“Agree to disagree?” Bunny offered.

“Da.” North refilled Bunny’s cup from the kettle. “Still, you saved many people during the war.”

“Doesn’t make it less dangerous. Removing the soul from a body to save it from fearlings is one thing, but trapping that soul in a prison the way the Pooka wanted to? It was better to pretend it was destroyed.” He sighed, thinking of the blow the loss of such ancient artifacts had done to morale. “And now Pitch has it.”

“Not all of it.” Tooth buzzed in, the tablet monitoring the fake doll’s location in her hands, Sandy right behind her. “He doesn’t have the First Light.”

“Well yeah, there’s that.” Bunny agreed. “Strewth ye know how worried I was when the kid went right for the ceiling? Like he had a homing device. Still I’m not stupid enough to keep it in a doll somewhere.” He raised his brows at the others.

Sandy pointed a giant blinking arrow at North. 

“I thought it would be inconspicuous.” North rubbed his nose. “Did not realize it would grow actual legs and walk off.”

“North, magic likes to move. That much magic? In such a small confinement? It’s gonna find a way.”

“I did wonder why the treasure tree grew wings.” Tooth frowned. “I assumed it was another faction of belief, like the mice.”

“Ye have mice now?” Bunny perked his ears, intrigued, but Tooth waved it away.

“Later, how are you feeling.” She perched on his armrest. 

“Better.” and he did, now that his body had got Jack’s magic out of his system he was warming up. “And ye Sandy?”

Sandy wiggled his fingers then gave him a thumbs up.

“All that’s left then is to wait.” Tooth handed the tablet to North, then leaned over and wrapped her arms around Bunny’s neck. “You worried us.”

“Sorry love, didn’t mean to.”

“Jack didn’t either.” Tooth mumbled, burying her face in his fur. “I keep seeing his face. He was so scared, and the fearling…”

“Gave us all a good start.” Bunny let go of his cup to wrap an arm around her. “Ye worried about the sprite?”

“He was such a sweet boy Bunny.” Tooth pulled back to look him in the eyes, “I know you met him at a bad time, but I just never believed he could do such a thing. He couldn’t have known what it was.”

“I agree.” North confirmed. “If he had wanted to do harm, hurting you should not have bothered him.”

“Some people don’t like t’get their hands dirty, but I hear ya.” Bunny set his cup down and stood. “What we do know is that whatever’s going on Pitch is behind it, we can’t let him complete the device.” the others nodded, faces hard and determined. “Once we stop that ol ratbag, then we’ll sort out Frost. Don’t go in there thinking ye can save him,” he said to Tooth, then pinned the others with a look as well, “any of ya. Ye know Pitch’s tricks.”

“We do. We will keep our head Bunny.” North vowed. 

“Ye better, ‘cause I’ll shove it up yer arse if ye get it lopped off.”

His threat was interrupted by the high chime of the tablet. “And with that pleasant image-” Tooth grinned and darted out to tell the yeti in the warren, “Common boys, keep up!” she shouted back to them.

“Keep up she says,” North scoffed, tugging a snow globe from his pocket. “How does she think she will get there without us?”


End file.
